Greenleaf:Apple signs multi-year contract with Oprah Winfrey

The race for the best minds in the TV industry continues and this time Apple has made a big name for itself: Oprah Winfrey will work with the tech giant for several years to develop new formats.

Oprah Winfrey has apparently taken a bite out of the tempting apple and signed a multi-year contract with the tech company Apple. The producer, actress, entrepreneur and talk show personality will realize a series of own productions that rely on her ability to reach viewers worldwide.

Similar to the competition from Amazon or Netflix, Apple is currently investing billions to get the most interesting personalities from the TV and film world on board when its own productions get underway. These include Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”), Hailee Steinfeld, M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”), Steven Spielberg, Octavia Spencer, Kristen Wiig and Reese Witherspoon, who work on various projects.

Winfrey began her TV career as a talk show host in “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, where she liked to give her viewers expensive surprise gifts. Through her production company Harpo Productions, she is also responsible for the careers of Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Rachael Ray. In 2011 she finally founded her own channel OWN and is CEO there. She appeared in the series Greenleaf and in films such as “The Butler”, “Das Zeiträtsel” and “Die Farbe Lila” and has already been nominated twice for an Oscar. There were also rumours that she could possibly apply for the US presidency, which she later denied. As with Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes and others, ongoing projects should not be affected by this deal and continue normally.

Amazon has recently signed contracts with Nicole Kidman, Jordan Peele, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Robert Kirkman, for example, while Netflix has committed the Murphy and Rhimes mentioned to itself for hundreds of millions of US dollars for new series projects.